Scottish Executive

Anti-Social Behaviour

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £0/15/15 million to be invested in tackling anti-social behaviour and other local initiatives, as referred to in Building a Better Scotland: Spending Proposals 2003-2006: What the money buys , will be allocated to East Dunbartonshire in each year and to what projects it will be allocated.

Ms Margaret Curran: The programmes to be supported under this package of funding are still being developed. Further announcements will be made shortly.

Arts

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will review funding of the arts.

Mike Watson: There are no current Executive plans to undertake a formal review of arts funding.

Better Neighbourhood Services Fund

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been allocated under the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund to the Vineburgh area of Irvine for the current and next two financial years.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Executive did not provide funding for a specific area. North Ayrshire Council and its community planning partners decided on the use of their funding allocation from the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund.

Better Neighbourhood Services Fund

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average per capita funding is for projects under the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Executive does not require local authorities to gather this information, nor do we hold it. We are concerned with the outcomes that Better Neighbourhood Services Fund resources achieve in terms of improving services.

Better Neighbourhood Services Fund

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a progress report from North Ayrshire Council on the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund in the Vineburgh area of Irvine and whether it will place a copy of any such report in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Executive has received an annual progress report from North Ayrshire Council on the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund (BNSF). Annual reports for each of the 12 local authorities allocated funding under the BNSF will be copied to the Parliament’s Reference Centre after they have been reviewed by ministers and funding decisions taken.

Child Care

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £0/10/10 million to help fund child care provision in disadvantaged areas, referred to in Building a Better Scotland: Spending Proposals 2003-2006: What the money buys , will be allocated to East Dunbartonshire in each year and to what projects it will be allocated.

Ms Margaret Curran: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-31648 on 28 November 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found on:

   http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Deafblind People

Cathie Craigie (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce guidance similar to that issued in England and Wales under section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970, placing a duty on local authorities to be proactive in their efforts to serve deafblind people.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: There are no plans to issue similar guidance at present. The Executive is taking forward its own initiatives in Scotland. We are working together with the main organisations that provide community care services to adults with sensory impairments, including deafblindness. We are reviewing objectives, agreeing priorities and devising a strategy for future developments.

Development

Ms Wendy Alexander (Paisley North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the annual (a) regeneration and (b) social inclusion partnership (SIP) budget was allocated to Paisley Partnership in each year since 1997.

Ms Margaret Curran: The information requested is given in the following table. Allocations for 1997-98 and 1998-99 relate solely to the former Urban Programme.

  
  1997-98(£000)
1998-991(£000)
1999-20002(£000)
2000-01(£000)
2001-02(£000)
2002-033(£000) 
Urban Programme/Core SIP allocation 2,993
2,300 2,981
2,947 2,692
2,979  Ferguslie 
Park -
1,041 947
1,000 900
-  Drugs Misuse
- -
- -
60 69
 Support Costs
- -
- -
173 126
 Empowering Communities
- -
- -
60 60
 Total 2,993
3,341 3,928
3,947 3,885
3,234 

  All allocations exclude carry forward (EYF) from previous year.

  Notes:

  1. Ring-fenced allocation for Ferguslie Park included in the allocation to the Paisley Partnership from 1 April 1998.

  2. Allocation for Ferguslie Park subsequently reduced (to £662,372) to meet the partnership’s expenditure profile.

  3. Ferguslie Park allocation subsumed within the core SIP allocation to Paisley from 2002-03.

Digital Technology

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its policies will speed up the roll-out of broadband to rural areas.

Iain Gray: Our policies and initiatives on broadband are outlined in the broadband strategy update, which I published last week.

  You will see that there are specific initiatives in the more rural areas, which should help to speed up broadband provision there. These include the Pathfinder initiatives to aggregate public sector demand for broadband in the Highlands and Islands and South of Scotland. It is hoped that this major public investment will help to stimulate supply of and demand for broadband within these areas. Work on the Pathfinder initiative is well in hand.

  There are also projects funded by the Scottish programme under the UK broadband fund, encouraging uptake of broadband and exploring alternative delivery mechanisms, which could help roll-out in rural areas. These include awareness raising measures through the Broadband for Business demonstration project in the Highlands and Islands and technology trials of Powerline Carrier and Wireless technology, which aim to determine the potential of these technologies for delivering broadband in rural communities.

  I also announced a new initiative last week, worth up to £24 million, aimed at accelerating and widening broadband provision in Scotland. Rural areas should benefit from this initiative as will the rest of Scotland.

Digital Technology

Rhona Brankin (Midlothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to extend access to broadband services for communities.

Iain Gray: Last week, I published an update to our broadband strategy, which details all the actions we are taking to increase the availability of broadband throughout Scotland. I also announced a new initiative, worth up to £24 million, aimed at accelerating and extending the reach of broadband across Scotland.

  Moreover, under the DTI’s Broadband Fund, the Executive is taking forward a suite of projects, many of which include trials of innovative ways of delivering broadband to communities. Under the Executive’s Pathfinder project, communities in both the pilot areas, the Highlands and Islands and the South of Scotland, will hopefully benefit from the additional telecoms investment that could be stimulated by the aggregation of public sector demand for broadband services.

  In addition, the Spark project aims to deliver a broadband interconnect to every education authority across Scotland. In the longer term, the project also aims to make its facilities available to community learning and lifelong learning interests.

Digital Technology

Mr Lloyd Quinan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that full access to broadband internet services is available throughout Scotland.

Iain Gray: I published an update to our broadband strategy last week and it shows the actions we are taking. I also announced a new initiative, worth up to £24 million, aimed at accelerating and extending broadband provision in Scotland. This should help take us closer to realising our vision of a nation with affordable and pervasive access to broadband.

Education

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which of the 62 New Community School projects are located in East Dunbartonshire.

Cathy Jamieson: Two of the New Community Schools pilot projects are located in East Dunbartonshire. One project covers St Ninian’s High School, Kirkintilloch High School, Hillhead Primary School, St Flannan’s Primary School and Meiklehill Nursery School. The other focuses on Campsie View School and Merkland School.

Enterprise

John Young (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress the Improving Regulation in Scotland Unit has made in reducing bureaucratic burdens on business.

Iain Gray: The Improving Regulation in Scotland Unit ensures that all departments take full account of business interests where regulation is necessary.

  Regulatory Impact Assessment Reviews ensure that regulations are fit for purpose.

Enterprise

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31500 by Iain Gray on 26 November 2002, why it does not hold centrally accurate and complete information about the (a) level of foreign disinvestment and company closures, (b) number of associated job losses and (c) level of public financial support provided to each company involved; what action it will take to ensure that it holds such information centrally in the future, and whether holding such information centrally would be beneficial to identifying the number of jobs available, assessing the health of the economy and calculating how much public financial support to make available to companies.

Iain Gray: As indicated in response to question S1W-31500, there are limitations to the readily available information sources. For example, we may not be made aware of job losses if intended redundancies are below the threshold of 20 in any one month at which the Department of Trade and Industry needs to be informed under the Trade Union and Labour Relation (Consolidation) Act 1992.

  The main form of financial support provided to inward investors is under the Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) scheme, though other forms of assistance are provided by the Enterprise Networks. For those companies in receipt of RSA, the Executive maintains records from the point at which grant has been offered to the point at which the company has discharged all its contractual obligations in respect of RSA.

  We assess the health of the economy in a number of ways and recognise the importance of robust economic statistics in monitoring economic progress and in underpinning economic policy development.

Fisheries

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in discussions with the European Commission on next year’s management regime for white fish stocks in waters round Scotland.

Ross Finnie: Preliminary discussions on a management regime for North Sea and West of Scotland stocks took place at the November Council following the Commission's publication of its proposals for effort reduction. I met Commissioner Fischler on Tuesday 10 December, and further discussions will continue at official level until the December Council.

Fisheries

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what investment it has made in the scallop industry in each year since 1999-2000 and what steps it is taking to ensure the industry's survival.

Ross Finnie: Funds committed to scallop sector projects from the Scottish Executive and Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG) grants schemes since 1999-2000 are as follows:

  
 1999-2000
£409,296 
2000-01 Nil
 2001-02
£9,500 
2002-03 £250,713


  If projects are completed as planned, total investment in the sector will amount to around £3 million. Some £462,000 of the committed funds have already been paid to claimants.

  In acknowledging the difficulties experienced by the scallop sector, the Executive will continue to look sympathetically at applications for FIFG funding from the sector. My officials are currently looking at an application from industry for a scallop portion size study which is designed to inform the science behind the proposal for a tiered testing regime for amnesic shellfish poisoning.

  The Executive also commissioned an analysis of the economic impact of toxin fishery closures up to 2002 and this was published recently. The analysis will be considered by the Scottish Scallop Advisory Committee.

Fisheries

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the new tiered testing system for scallops will have on the scallop industry; when any economic appraisal of the impact of such a system will be completed, and when any such appraisal will be made available to (a) it and (b) the Parliament.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Food Standards Agency Scotland advise me that they are developing a Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) designed to evaluate the impact of the proposed tiered system on all parties affected. The RIA includes costings provided by the scallop industry. Once completed, it will be submitted to ministers before being made publicly available.

Fisheries

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will require the Food Standards Agency to make available all information the agency has regarding scallops and amnesic shellfish poisoning, including research data, correspondence with representative bodies of the scallop industry and all other relevant documents.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Food Standards Agency Scotland advise me that they will adhere to their stated policies of openness and accessibility in dealing with material concerning scallops and amnesic shellfish poisoning. All information the agency has which can be released to interested parties will be made available upon request.

Fisheries

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is policing the ban on sprat fishing in the Forth Estuary between 31 October 2002 and 31 March 2003 in light of any reports that boats have been witnessed fishing illegally in the area.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency has responsibility for the enforcement of this closure. The agency has no evidence of illegal activity taking place since the closure came into effect on 1 October 2002.

Flood Prevention

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any meetings with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Aberdeenshire Council following the recent flooding in Aberdeenshire and, if so, what the outcome was of such meetings.

Allan Wilson: There have not been any requests from either the Scottish Environment Protection Agency or Aberdeenshire Council to discuss flooding matters since the recent flooding in Aberdeenshire and no such meetings have taken place.

Flood Prevention

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which organisations have ultimate responsibility for dealing with (a) occurrences of flooding and (b) flood prevention.

Allan Wilson: The primary responsibility for dealing with flooding and for taking flood prevention measures lies with the individual property owner. Local authorities have powers to prevent or mitigate the flooding of non-agricultural land in their area. Where they assess that the carrying out of maintenance works on a watercourse or connected works would substantially reduce the likelihood of flooding on non-agricultural land in their area they have, in particular circumstances, a duty to carry out that maintenance.

Flood Prevention

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to amend existing flood prevention legislation to give local authorities powers to act where only one property is affected by flooding.

Allan Wilson: Existing flood prevention legislation does not preclude local authorities using their powers to act where only one property is affected by flooding. Accordingly, no amendment to the legislation is required.

Food Safety

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact on consumers of food supplements and herbal remedies will be of the EC Directive on food supplements; what the policy intention of the directive is, and what evidence exists to support the need for the directive.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: I have been advised by the Food Standards Agency that the EC Directive 2002/46/EC ensures a high level of protection for consumers as products on the market will comply with agreed safety levels and will bear adequate and appropriate labelling. Implementation of the directive will not immediately outlaw any products already on the UK market. The impact of the directive on the future continued availability of products will depend upon future developments on lists of permitted nutrients and on maximum limits.

  There are currently no specific limits in UK law on the level or range of vitamins and minerals contained in food supplements. Food supplements are regulated in other member states by differing national rules that may impede their free movement, create unequal conditions for competition and consumers. It is therefore necessary to adopt Community rules on those products marketed as foodstuffs.

  The directive deals only with the composition of vitamin and mineral supplements and will have no impact on the consumers of herbal remedies. Traditional herbal medicines are a reserved matter, dealt with by the Medicines Control Agency (MCA), the UK Medicines Regulatory Authority.

Health

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to improve services for people who are HIV positive.

Malcolm Chisholm: Following the publication of the Report of the HIV Health Promotion Strategy Review Group  in January 2001, the Executive made an additional £7 million available to NHS boards, over the four years from 2000-01, to assist their work to prevent the spread of HIV and other bloodborne viruses. The allocation for 2002-03 is £8.1 million.

  Local authorities also have a key role in supporting those suffering from HIV. Substantial additional resources have been allocated in the local government finance settlements for 2001-02 to 2003-04 for all community care provision.

  The Executive also provides some £500,000 to a range of voluntary organisations responding to the challenges posed by bloodborne viruses, particularly HIV and hepatitis C.

Health

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it made its decision on the provision of acute services in Glasgow taking into account the summary of the accessibility study published for the meeting of the Greater Glasgow NHS Board on 29 January 2002.

Malcolm Chisholm: Yes.

Health

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to improve the health of families in East Dunbartonshire since 1997 by reducing (a) the incidence of (i) smoking, (ii) alcohol misuse and (iii) poor diet and (b) mortality rates from coronary heart disease.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: (a)(i) Following publication of the White Paper "Smoking Kills" in 1998 the Scottish Executive allocated £1 million pounds per year to health boards across Scotland to provide smoking cessation support to priority groups. Additional Health Improvement Funding has also been available for smoking cessation services since 2001. Greater Glasgow NHS Board has allocated funding to two local health care co-operatives in the East Dunbartonshire area at Anniesland, Bearsden and Milngavie and Strathkelvin to establish intensive group support within the community. In Anniesland, Bearsden and Milngavie approximately 140 people have been successful in quitting smoking as a result of attending the service between 2001-03. In Strathkelvin 114 clients have been referred to the service since it commenced in January 2003.

  In addition to GP’s, practice nurses and the intensive group support service, smoking cessation assistance is also offered at four pharmacies in the East Dunbartonshire area (two in Bishopbriggs and two in Kirkintilloch). Attendance rates are not currently available.

  Zyban has been available on prescription since June 2000 and nicotine replacement therapy since April 2001.

  (ii) The Executive's Plan for Action on alcohol problems, published in January, sets out a range of national and local measures to reduce alcohol-related harm in Scotland. The plan requires Alcohol Action Teams, including the team covering East Dunbartonshire, to assess needs in their areas and produce local prevention, education and support and treatment strategies to address these by April 2003.

  (iii) In East Dunbartonshire work is on-going to ensure healthy options are available in primary schools as part of the school lunch. Starter packs have been produced for parents of primary 1 children which give information on healthy eating and a guide to healthy choices available in school. Greater Glasgow NHS Board has also given financial support to three breakfast clubs in the area.

  (b) The Scottish Cardiac Intervention Network Project Group will oversee the coronary heart disease element of the Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke Strategy and the introduction of new treatments that should help reduce mortality.

Hospitals

Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made towards the redevelopment of hospital buildings and services in Haddington.

Malcolm Chisholm: Lothian Primary Care NHS Trust, having consulted widely with the people of Haddington, is working towards the reprovision of services currently provided at Herdmanflat and Roodlands Hospitals on a single site, and the redevelopment of the Roodlands General Hospital site as a community hospital for East Lothian. The trust remains fully committed to working in partnership with East Lothian Council on the reprovision.

Housing

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to address housing shortages in rural areas.

Ms Margaret Curran: A wide range of factors affect the supply of housing in rural areas. Overall, it is for local authorities to analyse housing needs in their areas and make plans to meet those needs. Central government funding is available through a number of schemes to provide new and improved homes in rural areas. In particular, Communities Scotland’s Rural Development Programme has been increased from £36 million in 1998-99 to £48 million in 2002-03, providing over 6,600 new and improved homes during that period.

Housing

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £215 million allocated in the Spending Review 2002 for private sector housing purposes would otherwise have been treated as borrowing consents in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06.

Ms Margaret Curran: At present, local authorities receive a single capital allocation for borrowing consents relating to capital expenditure on all areas except their own housing stock. It is for each local authority to decide how much of the single capital allocation is spent for private housing sector purposes. For the current year, the forecast for local authorities’ total expenditure for these purposes is approximately £45 million.

Housing

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of households with children have been in temporary accommodation in the East Dunbartonshire Council area in each year since 1997.

Ms Margaret Curran: Information on households with children in temporary accommodation has been collected centrally since June 2000. Information is available on the position (numbers and proportions) within each local authority area at the end of June, September, December and March each year since 2000. This information has been published in various Scottish Executive Statistical Bulletins/Statistics Releases, as shown and which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

  
 Period
Table No. Bulletin 
Ref. No. Publication Date
Bib. Number  June 
2000 - March 2001 22
HSG/2001/4 27 Sep 2001
16396  June 2001
28 HSG/2001/6
18 Dec 2001 18220
 September 2001
23 HSG/2002/1
26 March 2002 20348
 December 2001 and March 2002
13 Stats Release
24 Sep 2002 24382


  These publications may also be found on the Published Data section of the Housing Statistics Branch Reference website (www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/housing/hsbref)

Housing

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to reduce the number of households and, in particular, households with children, living in temporary accommodation in the East Dunbartonshire Council area since 1997.

Ms Margaret Curran: East Dunbartonshire Council was awarded £185,000 in 2000 to increase the availability of appropriate temporary accommodation for homeless families.

  In addition, in carrying out an assessment of homelessness, and in the development of a homelessness strategy the council will be considering whether there is a need for further temporary accommodation for families or other vulnerable groups. All councils are required to prepare homelessness strategies by March 2003.

Justice

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to whether sentences imposed for convictions in respect of offences under sections (a) 1 or (b) 3A of the Road Traffic Act 1991 are less severe than sentences imposed for convictions in respect of such offences in courts in England.

Mr Jim Wallace: Although the number of cases prosecuted under these sections in England and Wales is much greater, there is no significant difference in the pattern of sentences imposed.

Ministerial Correspondence

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its performance in answering ministerial correspondence was in the third quarter of 2002.

Ms Patricia Ferguson: In the answer given to question S1W-24583 on 28 March 2002, I undertook to continue to report quarterly on the numbers of letters received by ministers and our performance in answering them.

  In the quarter July to September 2002, 3,731 letters were received for ministerial reply of which 68% received a reply within 17 working days, and 88% received a reply within 25 working days. This performance compared to that in the second quarter of 2002 dips slightly against the first target when 72% of letters received a reply within 17 working days and improves slightly against the second target when 87% received a reply within 25 working days.

NHS Staff

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) specialist rheumatology nurses and (b) consultant rheumatologists currently work in each NHS board area.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Information on the number of specialist rheumatology nurses is not available centrally.

  Information on the number of consultant rheumatologists working in each NHS board area is available in tables B10 and B11 on the ISD website. The website address is:

  http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/isd/NHSiS_resource/Workforce/workforce_statistics.htm.

National Minimum Wage

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31551 by Iain Gray on 26 November 2002, what arrangements it makes to liase with Her Majesty’s Government in relation to the implementation of the national minimum wage in Scotland and its impact on eradicating poverty and what information it received about how many employees in Scotland are paid less than the minimum wage and on what action is being taken against employers that are acting illegally.

Iain Gray: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a broad range of matters including the national minimum wage, but has no functions in relation to the implementation or the enforcement of the minimum wage.

Nuclear Power

Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the value of the nuclear industry to the economy in terms of (a) employment and (b) finance.

Lewis Macdonald: It is estimated that the nuclear industry currently supports around 4,250 direct jobs within Scotland.

  Information about indirect and induced employment and the monetary value of the industry to the economy is not available in relation to nuclear electricity generation alone.

Older People

Brian Fitzpatrick (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to reduce the proportion of older people on low incomes in the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency since 1997.

Ms Margaret Curran: Since 1997, older people on low incomes in the Strathkelvin and Bearsden constituency have benefited from increases to the Basic State Retirement Pension, the introduction of the Minimum Income Guarantee, the Winter Fuel Payment, and free TV licences for the over 75s. In addition, a range of Scottish Executive initiatives will increase levels of disposable income, including free off-peak bus travel, the Warm Deal, and the central heating programme, which is saving an average of £550 on bills.

Police

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on the recruitment of special constables in each of the last three years and how successful the recruitment exercises have been.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive does not provide funding specifically for the special constabulary. The cost of their recruitment, training and equipment is met from the individual force budgets, to which the Scottish Executive contributes in the form of specific grant. The numbers of special constables recruited in each of the last three years are set out in the following table. As at end-September 2002, there were 1,081 special constables serving with the eight Scottish police forces.

  Recruitment of Special Constables

  
 Force 1999-2000
2000-01 2001-02
 Central
8 7
26  Dumfries and 
Galloway 12
10 7
 Fife 11
20 7
 Grampian
19 12
12  Lothian and 
Borders 23
19 0
 Northern
24 10
8  Strathclyde
89 54
32  Tayside
10 13
14  Total
196 145
106 

  Source: Annual Statistical Returns from forces.

Police

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has cost to (a) train and (b) employ special constables in each year since 1997.

Mr Jim Wallace: No specific funding is provided by the Scottish Executive for the special constabulary. The cost of their recruitment, training and equipment is met from the individual force budgets, to which the Scottish Executive contributes in the form of specific grant.

Public Transport

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its news release SEET181/2002 of 14 November 2002, when the transport projects in Edinburgh funded from the Public Transport Fund are scheduled to be completed.

Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32132 on 11 December 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:   http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Race Relations

Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is planning to undertake research to consider the impact and performance of new duties on public sector authorities to promote race equality, in line with its Response to the Equal Opportunities Committee’s report on its consultation on the implementation of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 .

Ms Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive will be working closely with the Commission for Racial Equality, Audit Scotland and Her Majesty’s Inspectorates to ensure the effective development and implementation of robust and workable systems for assessing the impact and performance of duties placed on public authorities in Scotland by the Race Relations Act 1976 (Statutory Duties) (Scotland) Order 2002.

Racism

Mr Kenneth Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking in schools to help tackle racism.

Cathy Jamieson: Schools are at the heart of preparing young people to live in a multi-cultural and inclusive society. We have funded the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland (CERES) since 1991. CERES aims to promote education for racial equality within educational services in Scotland. CERES liaises with education authorities and schools to assist with formulating, developing and refining policies for multi-cultural and anti-racist education.

  We commissioned CERES, working in partnership with LTS, and the City of Edinburgh Council, to produce a resource to provide staff in pre-school, special schools, primary and secondary schools with materials to support a more effective delivery of anti-racism education. The CD-Rom Educating for Race Equality – A Toolkit for Scottish Teachers was launched on 3 December, and will be available to all schools in the New Year.

  In addition, to enable the implementation of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 across the school and pre-school sectors we set up a Delivery Group. The group’s remit was to ensure that education authorities and schools/centres are aware of their new duties under the act and to support smooth implementation. As part of this, the group has produced an information leaflet for school staff which will be issued before Christmas.

Rail Network

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to increase the number of stops made by ScotRail services on the east coast mainline.

Iain Gray: Proposals to run new services, including ScotRail services on the East Coast Main Line, are matters for the local transport authority or transport partnership to take forward.

  The Scottish Executive’s powers to issue directions and guidance to the Strategic Rail Authority are set out in section 208 of the Transport Act 2000.

Road Safety

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to highlight road safety during the festive season.

Lewis Macdonald: The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is conducting an enforcement campaign, focussing on drink driving, drug driving, speeding and seat belt use from 9 December to 6 January. The Scottish Road Safety Campaign has arranged complementary publicity on drinking and driving.

Road Safety

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the effectiveness of speed cameras in reducing traffic accidents.

Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive is supporting the establishment of Safety Camera Partnerships, led by local authorities and police forces. To date three such partnerships have been approved and are operational: in Strathclyde, Fife, and Grampian. Each Safety Camera Partnership is responsible for continually assessing the effectiveness of its speed cameras in reducing traffic accidents and casualties.

  Where safety cameras have been installed, the number of crashes has fallen significantly. For example, at the 28 City of Glasgow locations where fixed safety cameras have been in place over the past two years, the number of crashes involving personal injury at those locations fell by 64%.

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what improvement schemes will begin on the A82 between Glasgow and Inverness from now to 2010; whether each such scheme is projected or confirmed, and what the planned or estimated start date of each scheme is.

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what improvement schemes will begin on the A9 between Perth and Inverness from now to 2010; whether each such scheme is projected or confirmed, and what the planned or estimated start date of each scheme is.

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what improvement schemes will begin on the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen from now to 2010; whether each such scheme is projected or confirmed, and what the planned or estimated start date of each scheme is.

Lewis Macdonald: Details of improvement schemes due to be delivered in the current trunk roads programme up to 2006 are set out in the following table. Maintenance and improvement of the trunk road network is an on-going process and new schemes will be identified covering the period up to 2010 as we monitor strategic, operational and safety issues across the network.

   
Route Description of Scheme
Start Date 
A82 Glasgow to Inverness
 Dumbuck Junction
2003-04  A9 (part)
Perth to Inverness Section Only 
 North Kessock Junction
2002  Bankfoot - Junction Improvements
2002-03  Ballinluig Junction
2004-05  A95
A9 Junction to Keith  Advie Bridge 
-Replacement 2001-02 
Cromdale Road Phase II - Improvement Works
2002  Gaich to Craggan – 
Road Realignment 2003-04
 A96
Aberdeen to Inverness  Newtongarry 
-Realignment and Climbing lane 2003
 Coachford - Realignment and Climbing 
lane 2003 
Fochabers to Mosstodloch – Single Carriageway Bypass
2004-05

Roads

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what improvement schemes will begin on the A95 between Grantown on Spey and Inverness from now to 2010; whether each such scheme is projected or confirmed, and what the planned or estimated start date of each scheme is.

Lewis Macdonald: The A95 runs from the A9 north of Aviemore through Grantown on Spey to the A96 at Keith. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32095 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:   http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Roads

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there has been any delay to the commencement of the work to straighten the Midmill Bends at Hatton Cruden on the A90; if so, what the reasons are for any such delay, and when the work will start and finish.

Lewis Macdonald: The A90 Hatton Bends Improvement scheme has been delayed because there were insufficient contractors on the final tender list to constitute a competitive tender process. The scheme is presently programmed to start before the end of 2003 and to take approximately a year to complete.

Roads

Mr John Home Robertson (East Lothian) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what timescale is planned for the completion of the A1 dual carriageway link between the recently opened road at Bowerhouse and the end of the road that is under construction at Thistly Cross.

Lewis Macdonald: The current programme is to complete the Thistly Cross to Bowerhouse link by late 2004. Construction work will start as soon as the Thistly Cross roundabout, to which the new link will connect, has, itself, been constructed.

Student Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultations it has had with Her Majesty’s Government on student funding.

Iain Gray: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with Her Majesty's Government on a range of student funding issues.

Suicide

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to address the rising male suicide rate.

Malcolm Chisholm: On 2 December 2002, the Scottish Executive launched Choose Life: A National Strategy and Action Plan to Prevent Suicide in Scotland , which aims to tackle the rising rate of suicides in Scotland. It includes a particular focus on a range of vulnerable groups, including young people (especially young men), people with mental health problems, substance misusers and persons in prison. The strategy outlines clear objectives for concerted national and local action. The strategy and action plan are supported by a new investment of £12 million over three years, to be used to help promote improved, co-ordinated planning and the development and implementation of action by local agencies; to support local innovation and training and to encourage the development of interventions and services by local voluntary, community and self-help groups, and for work at national level and the establishment of a national implementation support team.

  The Scottish Executive also funds the Breathing Space telephone advice line for people, particularly but not exclusively young men, who suffer from low mood and might be at risk of suicide.

Visually Impaired People

Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30396 by Cathy Jamieson on 5 November 2002, whether its Education Department is aware of research conducted by RNIB Scotland and Visual impairment Scotland indicating that the actual prevalence rate of visual impairment among school pupils is approximately 2.3 per thousand, equating to more than 2000 pupils, compared with the total figure of 429 pupils quoted in that answer.

Cathy Jamieson: We are aware that a 1999 RNIB survey indicated a prevalence rate for visually impaired children in the UK in 1997 of 2.3 per thousand. This is higher than the number of school pupils with a Record of Needs in Scotland whose main learning difficulty arises from visual impairment. This is because recording rates vary considerably across local authorities, not all school pupils with a visual impairment will require a Record of Needs, and many pre-school children do not have a record.

Young People

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will promote the Youth Advantage Initiative, developed by the Northern Constabulary and Grampian Police in conjunction with the army, throughout Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: I understand that Operation Youth Advantage is one of several schemes by which Northern Constabulary and Grampian Police engage young people in their force areas. Other Scottish police forces do so in other ways. These are matters for individual forces.

Youth Crime

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements there are, or are planned, to provide parenting classes as a measure to deal with offending by children.

Cathy Jamieson: While parents and other relevant persons are required to attend children’s hearings, compulsory measures of supervision can only currently be imposed on the child. Parents may voluntarily access support services or play an active part in the child’s programme aimed at stopping offending.

  Action Point 9 of the Action Plan to Tackle Youth Crime and Disorder seeks to promote parental responsibility. We will shortly announce approvals under the £10.5 million Youth Crime Prevention Fund, which will include schemes enhancing parental support.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood Project

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will list, for each works package under the Holyrood project where a performance bond was obtained, (a) the name of the company awarded the contract, (b) details of the work involved and (c) the dates on which (i) the tenders were to have been received, (ii) the construction manager made the recommendation that the contract be awarded, (iii) any first or sole letter of intent was issued and (iv) the trade contract was concluded.

Sir David Steel: My letter of 5 December 2002, to the Convener of the Finance Committee, reported that a list of individual contractors or contracts, where performance bonds have, or have not, been requested, cannot be provided for reasons of commercial confidentiality. I am, therefore, unable to provide the information requested.